CMCC advances to UCSAA final with win over SMCC

UNIONTOWN, Pa. — Different night, different players stepping up for the Central Maine Community College women’s basketball team.

And despite uncharacteristic foul trouble in the first half, the Mustangs earned the same, dominant result against a very familiar foe.

After a quiet first half, Brooke Reynolds rose up in the second and finished 16 points on 7-of-8 shooting, and Jenny Schlim stayed solid throughout with 13 points and 11 rebounds to pace CMCC to a 62-46 win over rival Southern Maine Community College in the teams’ USCAA national semifinal.

“Today, we just had players step up,” CMCC coach Andrew Morong said. “Jenny Schlim played like an All-American. That’s what we know she’s capable of. And I think we just, defensively, we started communicating.”

Kristina Blais added 10 points for the Mustangs (32-1) before fouling out in the second half.

In an uncharacteristically foul-happy first half, the Mustangs afforded the Seawolves (24-5) nearly two dozen chances from the line.

“We had six players with two fouls in the first half, including three starters,” Morong said, “and (SMCC) shot 18 foul shots to our one and tey made 15 of them.”

Even then, though, Morong wasn’t worried.

“I knew we were going to be OK,” Morong said. “We just didn’t play that well, we weren’t being very disciplined defensively, and we still had the lead.”

In the second half, the Mustangs settled down, and clamped down on defense, allowing just 19 points the rest of the way.

“We worked really hard in the second half, and we were able to defend them without fouling,” Morong said. “You win a championship with your half-court, man-to-man defense. Regardless of our pressing, and how many turnovers we cause, our shooting percentage, all that stuff, at the end of the day, you have to play man-to-man defense at the elite level to have a chance to win a championship, and that’s what we did in the second half.”

Kaylah Abdul led SMCC with 16 points, nine of which came from the free-throw line. Jennifer Conrad, a Monmouth Academy graduate, added 12 in the loss.

CMCC will now try for its first national title Saturday at 6 p.m.